A NURSERY for children of staff at one of Southend’s leading employers a is set to shut down, leaving staff “devastated”.

Olympus KeyMed Day Nursery, in Stock Road, Southend, is planning to close its doors in August, with bosses blaming “changing expectations” in early years care.

The nursery is based at the global medical and industrial equipment and services company Olympus KeyMed and is believed to be used only for staff members’ children.

A spokesman for the company said: “After much consideration, on Tuesday we shared with employees and parents our proposals to close Olympus’ on-site day nursery in Southend at the end of August. This has been a very difficult decision and is not one that’s been made to save money.”

Residents and councillors have raised concerns about the closure.

One resident said: “Olympus KeyMed is closing its day nursery leaving 58 children without childcare from the summer. Staff are devastated.”

Brian Beggs, Tory councillor for St Lukes, said: “I think it is a shame and I know a lot of nurseries have been struggling to get funding.

“It’s devastating for parents and a lot have to work, so it is frustrating for families going through this.

“It will have a sad impact on them as they try to fill the gap.”

The latest Ofsted for the nursery from 2017 showed there were 73 children on the roll.

According to website daynurseries.co.uk, there are 18 staff, 97 places for children and it offers services for youngsters aged 0 to 5 years.

The last Ofsted report rated it as good but it was previously outstanding.

At the time it was praised for effectiveness of the leadership and management, quality of teaching and learning and assessment of the service.

A spokesman for the company added: “Changing expectations around early years childcare, which is something that falls outside of our core MedTech remit, means we will no longer be in the best position to manage an early years childcare provision.

“We are currently consulting with all impacted employees, so it would be inappropriate for us to comment further on individual cases.

“We will provide both the day nursery team and parents with bespoke support packages, including financial, should the proposed closure go ahead.”